¡Descarga Historical Overview of Ireland: Plantations, Rebellions, and Language Revival - Prof. Segu y más Apuntes en PDF de Literatura inglesa solo en Docsity! Historical overview (I) Plantations: providing land to Protestant English and Scottish planters, previously confiscated from the Gaelic population. Great Rebellion: In 1641, Ulster Catholics whose land had been confiscated formed the Catholic Confederation and organized the Great Rebellion. The aim was to recover their land from the planters and the defense of Catholicism. The following year (1642), a civil war broke out in England, which ended with Cromwell’s victory in 1649. Cromwellian Defeat: One of Cromwell’s first measures was to send the New Model Army to Ireland to repress the rebellion — the Cromwellian Defeat. The Society of United Irishmen: Founded in 1791 in Belfast as a revolutionary secret society. The French Revolution influenced its aims and ideals. Its leader was Theobald Wolfe Tone (Protestant). Act of Union: legislative agreement uniting Great Britain (England and Scotland) and Ireland under the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847): O’Connell and his supporters tried to achieve freedom for Ireland after the Act of Union by peaceful means (i.e. to act within the legal framework). Catholic Emancipation: the achievement of the same rights for Catholics as for Protestants: the admission of Catholics to the positions from which they were still excluded following the Catholic Relief Acts of 1778, 1782 and 1793 (a series of enactments partially dismantling the Penal Laws). The Great Hunger or Famine (1845-1848/9): A consequence of the potato blight, which damaged the crops and led to a widespread incidence of disease (most important crop for Irish peasants). Land League: Parnell (Protestant) together with Davitt, founded the Land League in 1879 in order to counterattack evictions, which became frequent (and carried out more often than not cruelly) in the second half of the 19th century, especially as a result of the Great Famine. Land Acts: These regulated, for instance, rents and evictions. The Land Acts were considered as a victory for the Land League. Parnell’s popularity was so immense that he became known as the ‘Uncrowned King of Ireland’. Irish Renaissance /Irish Cultural Revival: a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature. The Fenian Society (1858): The Fenian Brotherhood trace their origins back to 1790s, in the rebellion, seeking an end to British rule in Ireland initially for self-government and then the establishment of an Irish Republic. The Fenian Rising (1867):The Fenian Rising of 1867 was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Historical overview (II) Home Rule bill established a representative Irish parliament and an executive body responsible for most domestic affairs, but not for defense or international affairs, since Ireland would remain under the British Crown. Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) - an armed organization of about 100, 000 men, - was created to resist the imposition of the Home Rule Bill Irish Volunteers: In response to the UVF, a nationalist volunteer force was created to defend Home Rule if necessary. Cumann Na Mban (Republican women’s association). Its aim was to assist the Irish Volunteers Pádraig Pearse was the Commander-in-chief of the Republican forces – compromising the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, which then became the Irish Republican Army (Hanley 6). Easter Rising (1916): During the Easter Week of 1916 Republicans organised a rebellion to establish an independent Irish Republic, believing the time to be propitious due to Britain’s involvement in the Great War Sinn Féin “We ourselves”: After the 1916 defeat, the Republicans reorganized themselves into a political party – Sinn Féin, led by Eamon de Valera. De Valera was one of the few Easter Rising leaders who had not been executed – largely because he had been born in the United States and held a U.S. passport. Dáil Éireann: the Irish parliament, with no legal recognition presided over by de Valera. The Dáil Éireann proclaimed the Irish Republic. ‘Black and Tans’: mercenary army sent by Britain to fight against the proclamation of the Republic of Ireland Language: Government policies during this decade were very conservative, except in one area: language. Despite the suffocating atmosphere of these years, the government did comprise itself to a ‘radical policy’ regarding language: namely, to revive Gaelic. Irish became the national language, co-official with English, and a compulsory subject at school and also for public examinations. This policy has to do with the fact that the government, in T. Brown’s words, was ‘anxious to establish its legitimacy in the face of the republicans’s uncompromising zeal [and] had, in language revival, a cause of unexceptionable nationalist authenticity’ (47).
